Mexico to invest $1.5 billion in tourism this year

Tourist investment this year on Mexican soil could soar to $1.5 billion, a similar figure to the one posted in 2002, said John McCarthy, director-general of the National Tourism Fund (FONATUR), for whom the aforesaid amount stands for a major feather in the country’s hat at a time when other nations are curtailing their budgets. “Mexico is keeping up the pace,” he said.

Mr. McCarthy underscored hoteliers’ interest in pouring money into the industry on the heels of a meeting held between Mexican president Vicente Fox and a bunch of local and foreign businesspeople linked to the tourist sector.

Adolfo Fastlicht, chairman of the Real Estate Developers Association, pointed out entrepreneurs iterated President Fox their confidence in Mexico and in his administration’s plans for long-term investment.

For his part, Juan Miguel Villar, a representative for Spanish building group Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL), referred to Mexico’s privileged conditions for this particular kind of venture.

Mr. Villar also indicated that Mexico banks on abundant natural resources. OHL, the biggest investment company in Latin America’s infrastructure, made up its mind to draw a bead on Mexico some three years ago.

OHL has so far spent $1.3 billion in the tourist development of a place called Maya Kob, in the Mexican Caribbean and off the island of Cozumel.

Mr. Villar averred that his company won the contest for the building of a 90-mile-long highway that’s supposed to hook up the northern municipalities with Mexico City’s metro area. The whole project will require a total investment package of $700 million.